Graduation with Departmental Distinction

Students who want to graduate with Departmental Distinction (GwDD) within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering conduct supervised research through independent study courses and present the results of their research and study in both written and oral forms to the department's Awards and Honors Committee.

Eligibility

To be eligible for graduation with departmental distinction, a candidate needs to have a 3.500 or higher GPA and complete at least one (1) unit of independent study, supervised by at least one of the CEE faculty, culminating in a written report. In addition, students must present their research project orally to an audience of faculty and students.

Students interested in the Graduation with Department Distinction honor are encouraged to approach faculty members to discuss independent study opportunities. For ideas, review the department's faculty research interests as many independent study projects come from faculty's already funded research and interests.

Independent study courses:

• CEE 491(197)/492(198). Projects in Civil Engineering. These courses may be taken by junior and senior engineering students who have demonstrated aptitude for independent work. Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies required. Half course or one course each. Instructor: Staff.
• CEE 394(172)/493(173)/494(174). Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Projects. Intensive research project in Civil and Environmental Engineering by students selected as Engineering Undergraduate Fellows.  Consent of instructor and program director required. Instructor: Staff. One course.

The latter set of independent study courses are for students in the Pratt Fellows Program, which is an intensive research program consisting of three (3) units of independent study as well as 8 weeks of research during the summer between the junior and senior years. Applications for selection to the program are due in the fall of the Junior year.

Process

The Awards and Honors Committee, through its Graduation with Departmental Distinction coordinator, will send each student enrolled in the Graduation with Departmental Distinction Program a letter at the beginning of the Fall term to include:

• a copy of the GwDD Protocol
• advisability of conducting the research in two terms, with a minimum ½ course load per term,
• the standards for the presentations and the written-works, and the importance of the initial course description prepared by the student and the course instructor (submitted to the Director of Undergraduate Studies).

Students enrolled in the GwDD program should provide a one-page progress report in early March to the GwDD Coordinator with a note from their Advisor that the project is advanced enough to yield a work deserving of Distinction.

The Committee meets immediately after the oral presentations and assesses each of the written reports and oral presentations. The Committee reports to the Director of Undergraduate Students the names of the students eligible for Graduation with Departmental Distinction based on the Committee's judgment of their written and orally presented work. The Committee also identifies the name of the student deemed to have demonstrated the highest excellence in independent study as demonstrated by the professionalism of their written or orally presented work; this student is awarded the Eric Pas Award.

Report

The GwDD coordinator must receive the following materials two days prior to the oral presentation, by 5pm---with presentation generally on a Friday this would mean that the materials noted below would be due by 5pm of the previous Wednesday. If a student desires the Committee to preview their paper and receive comments in return then the paper should be submitted to the GwDD coordinator at least one week in advance of the oral presentation.

• an electronic copy of the final written-work (in either .docx or .pdf format),
• digital photo(s) of the student working in the lab, at a field site, working at the computer, etc. which is(are) suitable to publishing to a website (optional)

The written report needs to be prepared according to the Protocol and following ASCE journal publication requirements. In general, the written-work may not be less than 8 nor more than 12 pages of single spaced 10- or 12-pitch typed text including nomenclatures, figures, tables, appendices, and references, and it should be prepared as a photograph-ready manuscript for conference proceedings. However, in experimental, architectural, and other similar works the length and format may be as defined by the course instructor.

Each report is evaluated by the Committee on the basis of correctness, neatness, conciseness, clarity, rigor, and depth.

Presentation

Each student will have 15 minutes for his/her presentation followed by 5 minutes of questions. The speakers are expected to prepare their slides according to professional standards. The length of the presentation should be strictly observed.

The Committee evaluates the presentation on the basis of clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness.

Historically, oral presentations are scheduled on the last Friday of the Spring term. The presentations are advertised to the department, and typically ordered alphabetically by the family names.

Eric Pas Award

The most outstanding independent study project, as judged by the Awards and Honors Committee, is bestowed the Eric I. Pas Award.

Students and Their Research

Recent graduates of our program who have earned the honor of Graduation with Departmental Distinction are listed below together with the title of their independent study project.